Hey guys! Since the OneBlade is still new to most of us, and no doubt prompted skepticism when first revealed, I thought I'd note down my thoughts on the razor as I begin to use it (it arrived yesterday and I had my first shave with it this morning). I'll add to this thread as I spend more time with the razor.
As background, I've been wet shaving (as in, no more cartridges) since November 2014, and in my enthusiasm have tried many different DEs (favorites now being my Wolfman OC and NEW SC), a very brief stint with straights, and more recently Schick injectors and (very early days with) a Mongoose. I'm certainly a shaving hobbyist at this point, as are most of us.
It's worth noting that the OneBlade makes a very good first impression. As you may have seen already, the packaging is luxe and thoughtful, including the hand-made leather box it comes in and the care given to how the razor is secured within. The razor itself is beautiful, obviously built to great precision, and feels excellently balanced in the hand. Several coworkers stopped by to check it out and it was "oooohs" and "aaaahs" all around.
Here it is next to another arrival yesterday, my first vintage SE (GEM 1912):
So, to this morning's first shave. Lathered up my brand new B&M Night Music (lovely scent, great slickness), confirmed that yes indeed, I AM able to remove the blade when need be (this was tricky at first), got it re-seated, and had at it.
The basic shaving ability isn't in question here. The OneBlade mowed down my whiskers readily, and with satisfying audible feedback. I wouldn't say it's as eager/efficient as, say, an R41 or what I imagine a Feather SS can do, but, especially going into the second pass, it ate up what was before it while seemingly determined not to irritate or nick. I also felt much more confident getting at problem areas like my chin and parts of my neck.
I found the shave surface (and associated angle) very natural, and while the usual light pressure made sense, there were points where pressing in a bit seemed to help (I wouldn't add pressure through the whole shave, though). It's certainly more pressure than the super-light contact I've been working on with the Mongoose, and if I spend a lot of time with the OneBlade I'll be learning and entirely different set of manual instincts. The razor cruises around curves and forgives pressure: the analogy may be a (good) automatic transmission on a sports car.
I kept things to two passes with a little bit of touch up, but my second pass was a hybrid XTG plus ATG which can be very effective for me with razors I've mastered. No trouble here, though the razor resisted that second pass maybe a bit more than, say, my Wolfman with a Feather blade would have. The resulting shave is quite close (not quite full BBS but I wasn't trying for that), with almost no alum sting, zero irritation, and no nicks at all.
Overall the feel is just different from my DEs, injectors and the Mongoose. It's got a relaxed, "no brainer," feel while still shaving effectively. It's too soon for any conclusions, but I already suspect if I were to have the OneBlade as my only razor, I'd miss the satisfaction of using (relatively) trickier, less "automatic" razors. I can see why the OneBlade folks aren't targeting wet shaving hobbyists as their primary market: this isn't a hobbyist razor with a learning curve to take satisfaction from mastering. It's an immediately approachable, attractive tool that, at least based on this first try, provides a very good, close shave without cuts or irritation.
I intend to give the OneBlade a good run over the next week or two to really get a sense of it.
(Two quick niggles: the design of the head makes edge trimming (sideburns in my case) trickier, and getting the hairs just beneath the nose on a WTG pass was awkward to say the least.)
As background, I've been wet shaving (as in, no more cartridges) since November 2014, and in my enthusiasm have tried many different DEs (favorites now being my Wolfman OC and NEW SC), a very brief stint with straights, and more recently Schick injectors and (very early days with) a Mongoose. I'm certainly a shaving hobbyist at this point, as are most of us.
It's worth noting that the OneBlade makes a very good first impression. As you may have seen already, the packaging is luxe and thoughtful, including the hand-made leather box it comes in and the care given to how the razor is secured within. The razor itself is beautiful, obviously built to great precision, and feels excellently balanced in the hand. Several coworkers stopped by to check it out and it was "oooohs" and "aaaahs" all around.
Here it is next to another arrival yesterday, my first vintage SE (GEM 1912):
So, to this morning's first shave. Lathered up my brand new B&M Night Music (lovely scent, great slickness), confirmed that yes indeed, I AM able to remove the blade when need be (this was tricky at first), got it re-seated, and had at it.
The basic shaving ability isn't in question here. The OneBlade mowed down my whiskers readily, and with satisfying audible feedback. I wouldn't say it's as eager/efficient as, say, an R41 or what I imagine a Feather SS can do, but, especially going into the second pass, it ate up what was before it while seemingly determined not to irritate or nick. I also felt much more confident getting at problem areas like my chin and parts of my neck.
I found the shave surface (and associated angle) very natural, and while the usual light pressure made sense, there were points where pressing in a bit seemed to help (I wouldn't add pressure through the whole shave, though). It's certainly more pressure than the super-light contact I've been working on with the Mongoose, and if I spend a lot of time with the OneBlade I'll be learning and entirely different set of manual instincts. The razor cruises around curves and forgives pressure: the analogy may be a (good) automatic transmission on a sports car.
I kept things to two passes with a little bit of touch up, but my second pass was a hybrid XTG plus ATG which can be very effective for me with razors I've mastered. No trouble here, though the razor resisted that second pass maybe a bit more than, say, my Wolfman with a Feather blade would have. The resulting shave is quite close (not quite full BBS but I wasn't trying for that), with almost no alum sting, zero irritation, and no nicks at all.
Overall the feel is just different from my DEs, injectors and the Mongoose. It's got a relaxed, "no brainer," feel while still shaving effectively. It's too soon for any conclusions, but I already suspect if I were to have the OneBlade as my only razor, I'd miss the satisfaction of using (relatively) trickier, less "automatic" razors. I can see why the OneBlade folks aren't targeting wet shaving hobbyists as their primary market: this isn't a hobbyist razor with a learning curve to take satisfaction from mastering. It's an immediately approachable, attractive tool that, at least based on this first try, provides a very good, close shave without cuts or irritation.
I intend to give the OneBlade a good run over the next week or two to really get a sense of it.
(Two quick niggles: the design of the head makes edge trimming (sideburns in my case) trickier, and getting the hairs just beneath the nose on a WTG pass was awkward to say the least.)